I've made it! I have finished that race! All glory and praise ultimately goes to Him! I placed fourth in the Senior Division and fifth in the whole Bee! I was able to say all my passages before the two minute sign and finished the test with a few minutes to spare! I'm not taking the credit though. The Lord was with me every moment, helping me and guiding me. Many thanks to my Mom for all that she did to help me to be successful this year and for all her and Mrs. Boone's hard work to make this year's Bee amazing and fun! Although, they couldn't have done it without the help of the many volunteers from around the state!

Now I would like to share with you my testimony on how this year's study and God who ultimately change my life. (This testimony I gave in front of everyone at the Bee along with a few others, who also gave their testimonies.)

How many of you would agree that this years Bible Bee was the best? I certainly do! The Lord has truly changed my life from studying the book of 1 John! The one thing that really stood out to me was how much God loves me! It's overwhelming to think about! One time while I was listening to our scripture CD song of Acts 10:38-43 my eyes began to fill with tears. Not only was the song really moving, but the passage was amazing! God has loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me! Acts 10:38-43 sums up His life. I mean God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power. Jesus then took that power and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil and the whole time God was with Him. There were witnesses to prove that He was human. Then her died for us, rose again for us, and now lives for us. He showed Himself to witnesses, who were chosen by God. Prophets of old prophesied over and over again of His coming. And now He lives! He reigns! He is King over all! He loved us enough to go through all that for us; to save us! I just wanted to encourage all you contestants, that it's not about the contest, prizes and all. It's about living out what we have learned. Living the way Jesus did. He lived for others because He loved others, so fellow believers walk in love!

Now I want to encourage all of you. God loves you so much! Always remember that it is not about what the world thinks, what you feel like, or what other people are telling you. It's about what God thinks of you. He thinks you are special no matter what you have done or said! He cares for you and wishes to have a closer walk with you! I know life gets tiring and you might feel far away from God right now or maybe you are going through a trial. Matthew 11:28-30 says " Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."What a comfort this passage is! Come to the Lord and He will give you true rest! Follow Him for His burden is much lighter than ours. Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you! Always remember He is right beside you every moment of every day! Just call out to Him! I pray that if any of you are struggling that God would shine His light upon you. Bee-cause of Him, Holly

Just a quick notice! If you comment, please put double spaces between lines. Otherwise for some reason the lines are so close together it is extremely hard to read for me and for others. Thank you so much!

This year I am participating in the National Bible Bee. The National Bible Bee is designed to help families establish life-long habits of discipleship through bible study, scripture memorization and prayer. There are Local Bees throughout the nation and my family is hosting one of those many bees. On August 24th, I will go to compete locally. The top 120 scores from the local Bees across the nation will qualify for Nationals. Nationals is being held in Seiverville, Tennessee! I would be extremely grateful if you would pray for my family and me this Saturday! I have learned so much this year through studying the book of 1 John. I learned that God's love is overwhelming, fellowship and knowing Him is key in the life of a Christian. I look forward to what He has in store for me and my family! Even though the competition is a big deal, the real focus is on applying what I have learned to real life! I would encourage you to study God's word and hide it in your heart because that is what is most important!Paul said in Philippians 3:7-8 "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ!" Bee-cause of Him, Holly

This past weekend we went wild black raspberry picking with a family from our church. The weather wasn't too bad either and it is so green up there! It was fun to get to hang out with our friends while picking berries. Our friends weighed their berries when they got home and figured out they picked about $100 worth of berries (based on organic raspberry store prices). Since we had more people (and my Dad went picking like crazy) we figured we picked over $200 dollars worth of berries. That is an accomplishment for our family! The first year we went berry picking, we didn't even make it home with any! (Tells you how good they are!) Evan can really tell you how good they were.

Yes, Evan loved them! (He is not asleep. He's pretending to be injured!)

A few weeks ago we went camping with some good friends from Flagstaff and Phoenix in Williams, AZ. It was a special time of fellowship, bible study, singing, games, and more! The day we arrived it had rained quite a bit, so the woods smelled so good and the weather was so refreshing after being in the Arizona heat! My favorite part of our weekend up there was when we played this really cool game in the dark. It was called "light of the world." My Mom and Mrs. B put together a list of questions and verses. One person would be the "light" by holding a flashlight. All the others went away from the light but close enough to see the person being the light. Then, the "light" would shine the light in the darkness. If the light was on someone (or in some cases a few people), they would have a choice to either answer a question or recite a verse. If they got it correct, they were allowed to move to a different spot and stay there until the light shines on them again. But if they get it wrong, they have to become another light. By the end of the game, there were so many lights it's hard to hide from them. (We weren't allowed to hide behind trees!) It was a lot of fun! The drive home was not so enjoyable, though. We took my Dad's truck, so that meant Owen, Ian, and I had to sit in the back with no air-conditioning. Generally the heat doesn't bother us that much, but it was super hot that afternoon so we opened the back window. There was an accident on the freeway on the way home and we ended up stuck in traffic for two hours going less than 20 miles per hour in 100 degree weather!!! Talk about baking! Since the back window was open, people in the other cars could see us. We had some fun waving at a lot of those people to pass the time. Praise the Lord we survived! Overall it was an enjoyable and adventurous weekend!!!

Back at home life continued with a few days of wonderful rain! The rain reminds me of one of my memory verse that I would like to share with you!

"Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth." Hosea 6:3

I'd like to invite my readers to post a comment because I'd love to hear from you! Just click on "comments" to say something. Thank you.

I just finished reading Alex and Brett Harris's book Do Hard Things. If you have not read this book, I would encourage you to get it and read it. It's about rebelling against low expectations and getting out of your comfort zone, and doing some hard things for God. I am still praying what hard things I could do for Him. My favorite part is when Alex and Brett said (at the end of their book):

"Yes, it's going to be hard. But we're rebelutionaries. We do hard things."

Looking forward to what God has in store! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13

Author

Howdy ya'll! I'm Holly! A eighteen year old believer saved by grace, Bible Bee-er, a cowgirl wanna be, unusual writer, country lover, and over all book worm! I love studying and memorizing the Bible, enjoy photography writing, reading, blogging and fellowship. I am the oldest of seven children and live in warm Arizona.